There are enemies lurking within your home. Just beyond each faucet and shower fixture, the pipes that feed them are - in most homes - filled with bacteria and parasites in Tiverton. Some of these, like the parasite Cryptosporidium, are quite dangerous. The good news is that there are sensible and cost-effective ways to rid your home of these unwanted guests.

Homeowners concerned about the quality of the air in their homes in Tiverton can take steps to reduce indoor pollutants by removing or reducing existing sources and avoiding potential new sources of pollutants. They can also benefit from the efforts of several government, non-profit and private organizations that address the issue of indoor air quality. They offer guidelines to follow in pursuit of cleaner air, or certify products that meet established standards designed to minimize or eliminate sources of emissions that can negatively impact indoor air quality.

Linda Moody's take on a typical New England Saltbox is a two-story, passive-solar space with 90 square feet of south-facing windows and a crushed stone/bluestone floor that serves as thermal mass, absorbing and storing the sun's heat during the day, then dispersing it at night.

A healthy home plan in Tiverton will ensure an energy-efficient design and specify the use of such elements as daylighting, passive airflow and fresh-air exchange through the proper placement of windows and doors.

To improve the home's overall energy performance, all of the old windows were replaced with low-e, double-pane windows with argon-gas fill. The argon in the sealed insulated glass windows reduces heat loss significantly.

Most of us in Tiverton spend considerable time and money shopping for clothes to perfectly fit our various shapes, yet we live in ill-fitting, cookie-cutter houses designed for the mythical average family. We acknowledge food, clothing and shelter as the basic necessities of life, but we give shelter short shrift.

Sewage disposal by septic tank in Tiverton can be entirely satisfactory if the tank is properly sized, the leach field is adequate and the system is properly maintained. Information on the size of the tank and the extent of the disposal field may not be available, but the system can be tested using tracer dye and a water flow of 5 gallons per minute for an hour. If no effluent shows on the surface of the ground at the end of the test, it will indicate that the disposal field is in good working condition.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and outgassing don't sound like terms in the average homeowner's vernacular in Tiverton, but they should be. These chemicals - VOCs - could be affecting the health of some or all of the people in your home.

Water quality has become an important issue for many homeowners in Tiverton, given recent reports about the quality of tap and bottled water. According to the National Tap Water Quality Database ( www.ewg.org/tapwater ), 260 contaminants have been found across the nation in residential tap water, and for more than half (141) of these contaminants, there are no enforceable safety standards.